City Planning

I was glad to see Dan Garcia's piece (Opinion, Sept. 15) on Los Angeles planning, and I'm very pleased that our planning process is being discussed in an open forum. I think it is one of the most important issues facing Los Angeles today, and I think nothing short of cooperation and attentive work on our part will square it. When I designed the Los Angeles Coastal Transportation Corridor Specific Plan nearly two years ago I was thinking that we needed to find an acceptable common ground between development and transportation, for both are growing.

Beekeepers are urging Los Angeles city leaders to seriously consider allowing backyard beehives. The City Council took action Wednesday to explore whether beekeeping should be allowed in residential zones, asking city staff to report back on the idea. Backyard beekeepers want Los Angeles to join New York, Santa Monica and other cities that allow residents to keep hives at home. Existing Los Angeles city codes do not allow beekeeping in residential zones, according to city planning officials.

The City Council, Planning Commission, Design Review Committee and city staff held a special joint session last week and resolved to improve city planning and development. After discussions in small groups Wednesday, the members assembled, agreeing informally that the city should define quality of development, update city codes, clarify the steps developers must follow in making applications and improve communication between the council, staff and commissioners, said John E.

The Los Angeles City Council took its first step Wednesday to explore whether beekeeping should be allowed in residential zones, asking city staff to report back on the idea. Backyard beekeepers want Los Angeles to join New York, Santa Monica and other cities that allow residents to keep hives at home. Existing Los Angeles city codes do not allow beekeeping in residential zones, according to city planning officials. Beekeeping has nonetheless blossomed among Angelenos worried about the health of honeybees and devoted to urban farming.

"War on Sleaze," "Venice . . . Homeless," "Seniors Win Stay . . . ,"" . . . Westwood Congestion"--all Dec. 10 Westside (section) headlines--are one and the same, in terms of a failure to include human concerns and needs in planning and county-city coordination. My own experience as a member of the Countywide Citizen's Planning Council substantiates this conclusion. Physical items, such as land development, Metro Rail and transit problems . . . crowd the agenda. Sure, all these impact on our citizens, but the discussion(s)

Hoping to shape a vision of what Laguna Beach should be in the 21st century, city leaders are asking residents for help with a comprehensive plan that could serve as a blueprint for the city's future. Though the formal process won't begin until September, City Council members are seeking community input now so they can begin building the framework and set overall goals. City leaders will contact neighborhood associations and other community groups to ensure broad participation.

Universal Studios has received a tentative nod from the Los Angeles Planning Department to move forward with plans for 12-story parking garage in Studio City, a city planning official said Thursday. In issuing the ruling, the department's Environmental Staff Advisory Committee determined that any negative environmental impact associated with the 1 million-square-foot development could be corrected with relative ease and that the project could forgo a more rigorous environmental impact report.

The City Council, anticipating the best and the worst, is calling for two task forces to prepare for millennium celebrations and for the possible wrath of El Nino weather this winter. The millennium party committee should involve groups from the city's businesses, schools, churches and "the whole gamut" of potential celebrators, said Councilman Mike Spurgeon, who proposed the idea.

City planning officials have backed away from proposed zoning changes that would have allowed housing to nearly triple in some neighborhoods of southwest Whittier. The zoning changes would have permitted an increase in new houses and duplexes on several streets in an area whose general boundaries are Nogal Avenue, Shreve Road, Greenleaf Avenue and Lambert Road.

Backyard beekeepers are urging the city to allow Angelenos to keep hives at home, joining the ranks of cities such as New York and Santa Monica that already permit the practice in residential areas. The Los Angeles City Council is slated to vote Wednesday on whether to ask city officials to draw up a report on allowing beekeeping in residential zones, a possible first step toward permitting backyard beekeeping. Under Los Angeles city codes, beekeeping isn't allowed in residential zones, according to city planning officials.

Bobby Shriver on Tuesday will formally jump into the race for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, injecting the Kennedy-family mystique - and possibly some of his own wealth - into the contest to replace termed-out Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. Shriver, 59, the son of Sargent and Eunice Shriver and the nephew of President Kennedy, said he has been pondering running for a seat on the board for nearly a decade, as he watched Yaroslavsky work on helping the homeless while Shriver was a member of the Santa Monica City Council.

Solar installer SolarCity Corp. has figured out a way to tap retail investors willing to earn green by going green. The San Mateo company on Wednesday said it plans to offer a way to buy investment products similar to bonds. Instead of being backed by SolarCity, these securities would offer returns backed by solar projects and contracts the company has with customers who have panels installed on their roof. This is just one in a number of novel ways that solar power companies, many just start-ups, are finding ways to finance their businesses.

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Paul Conrad's "Chain Reaction" sculpture in Santa Monica, the subject of a grass-roots preservation campaign, might well survive to remind future generations of the horrors of nuclear war. Now that activists have raised funds to pay for some of the needed upgrades, the city manager said he plans to recommend that the city cover the remaining costs. A City Council vote is scheduled for Feb. 25. Conrad, a three-time Pulitzer winner who died at 86 in 2010, was paid $250,000 by a private donor to sculpt the work.

FUPING, China - A statue of the father of the nation's leader - 60 tons of granite - serves as the centerpiece of a square flanked by cypress trees. People approach along a long walkway and bow in the direction of his seated figure. Many carry oversized sprays of flowers. A museum dedicated to his life is at the other end of the walkway. Older women with straw hats and baskets squat on the grass, picking out weeds by hand to keep the grounds immaculate. The optics look straight out of North Korea, but this is in fact China.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Brian Cummings will retire from his position as head of the city Fire Department, according to Mayor Eric Garcetti and a department spokesman. Cummings had struggled to restore confidence in his management of the 3,500-employee department after officials admitted last year to misstating emergency-response times, making it appear that rescuers arrived faster than they actually did. During his campaign, Garcetti said he lacked confidence in the fire chief's leadership and second-guessed a series of the chief's management decisions.

The city's newly updated General Plan, the subject of about two years' worth of work and debate, is available for one last review by the public before a final vote of the City Council on Aug. 4. In May, the council approved a comprehensive update to the General Plan, the first major change since 1982. The document will guide planning and growth in San Clemente into the next century.

The City Council has appointed Glen E. Owens to fill former Planning Commissioner William E. Reeves' term. With a 3-2 vote, Owens, 41, was chosen to serve on the commission over seven other candidates. He is an 18-year resident who works as an examiner of fraudulent documents for the California attorney general's office. Reeves, who was appointed to the Planning Commission last April, resigned from his four-year job in November because he moved out of La Habra.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has told at least five of the city's department heads that he has decided to keep them as high-level managers, part of his months-long effort to build a new administration. Garcetti, who is going through a review of more than 30 department heads, has informed Michael LoGrande, who runs the Department of City Planning, and Brenda Barnette, general manager of the Animal Services Department, that they will get to stay. He has also moved to retain Enrique Zaldivar, director of the Bureau of Sanitation; Ray Ciranna, who runs the Fire and Police Pensions system; and Laura Trejo, who heads the Department of Aging.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has told at least five of the city's department heads that he has decided to keep them as high-level managers, part of his months-long effort to build a new administration. Garcetti, who is going through a review of more than 30 department heads, has informed Michael LoGrande, who runs the Department of City Planning, and Brenda Barnette, general manager of the Animal Services Department, that they will get to stay. He has also moved to retain Enrique Zaldivar, director of the Bureau of Sanitation; Ray Ciranna, who runs the Fire and Police Pensions system; and Laura Trejo, who heads the Department of Aging.